What do we expect from the city's living room? In many places, public libraries strive to provide a 'third place', a place where people feel at home. Currently, it is often automatically assumed that the public library is a 'third place'. The danger of this assumption is that everyone agrees, but no one knows exactly what it means. 

For our research, we write interim policy briefs on our findings, so-called policy briefs, in which we show what is going well, what challenges there are and provide recommendations where necessary. Following the fieldwork and a workshop with library staff within our first theme 'community librarianship', we wrote a policy brief. The lessons we draw from our research in two libraries in Rotterdam are surely also applicable within other Dutch libraries. 

A 'third place' is a place where people feel comfortable next to their home (the 'first place') and work or school (the 'second place'). The interpretation of the concept of 'third place' is context-specific and depends on many socio-economic and cultural factors. Characteristic of a 'third place' is its accessibility and approachability, but also a focus on debate and interaction. Ultimately, a 'third place' should become a centre of the community, where connection between people is essential.

What does the implementation of this concept - 'third place' - mean in practice for the daily work of library staff? Its interpretation seems to be multi-interpretable. During our observations, we see that there is almost exclusively attention for the advantages, while there are certainly disadvantages as well. For instance, some staff indicate that they fear the library will become the city's 'drain' if everyone is allowed to use the space as their living room. In addition, staff wonder what their jobs will be within the changing library and see them getting in the way of social workers and care workers. Here they also place an important caveat: employees must be qualified for this work. 

Among visitors, the term is also multi-interpretable and the library is used in many different ways. Some want it to be quiet, while others want to be able to talk or eat a fried fish while watching their favourite series. How people use a space and how they differ can lead to conflict, among visitors but also between visitors and staff. So it is important to question what a public library as a 'third place' can mean for both visitors and staff - in order to mediate during any conflicts and hopefully avoid them.

How can libraries work towards a broad understanding of 'third place'? Our advice is to question the concept of third place among staff and visitors and explore what it means to them. This can be done by actively engaging with staff and visitors to answer the question: what do we expect from the 'living room of the city'? This could prevent it from being just a buzzword and actually legitimise its use. 

We see a 'third place' as something to strive for - something never achieved, but always evolving. The library is always evolving. The library is subject to change, both externally, such as through political decisions and policy changes, and internally, through reorganisation and the coming and going of staff, for example. By considering concepts as dynamic and as multi-interpretable, we are not only talking about what something is, but also how it comes about. 

Ways to question the concept of 'third place': 

- What does 'third place' mean to you? 

- How do you envision an ideal 'third place' in the library? And is your ideal 'third place' ideal for everyone? 

- What behaviour would you rather not see in a 'third place'? Why? 

- Where do you see obstacles to achieving a 'third place'?